The clients found a house they loved for
two reasons…location, location, location (first reason) and the exterior
style was similar to a beloved childhood home. The designers found,
although the home was large enough, it was carved into many closed-off
spaces; they decided the key to providing the open feeling was to
address the poorly designed previous home addition. The additional
living space, which had been added many years prior, was difficult to
access, thus providing little useful function to the home. Completely
removing the original exterior walls of the home that blocked access
into the addition was the first step in the plan. Temporary walls were
built to sustain the weight of the second story during demolition of the
exterior walls. Once the temporary walls were in place, and the involved
exterior walls removed, structural steel headers were installed flush
with the second story floor system to now carry the load. With the walls
removed, the original walled-off space became a part of the home.
Relocating the first floor Powder Room, revising the entry closet,
reworking window locations and sizing, removing the wall into the
kitchen and resizing the Living Room all were key components to the
final rebirth of the larger picture. To finalize the new kitchen space,
it was decided to raise the Bay window unit thus allowing the relocated
sink location. With all the revisions, the Kitchen now could easily
accommodate a stretched out “L” layout with a large seated Island and a
separate desk area.
With the final plans in place, the
clients were amazed to find that within the existing walls of their
newly purchased home they had gained so much extra use. And…the very
last prize they gained was a dreamed of Mudroom!
